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The cooking oil issue

When I wrote earlier this week about the dangers of saturated fat, I said that one of the arguments of people that say saturated fat is good for you is that polyunsaturated oils are really bad for you, and that I agree with that statement. That raises the question: what cooking oil should you use? In the coming series I will discuss some of the benefits and drawbacks of various cooking oils.

Should you use oil at all?

Oil is a refined food. It is rubbed from most of its original nutrients and protection against rancidity. It is not something that is good for you, and you should use it in limited amounts. It is perfectly possible to cook without oil, and it is perfectly possible to get all your essential fatty acids from whole foods, like nuts, seeds, avocado's and greens. That said, populations from all over the world have used oils for ages. Some food does taste much better with even a little oil. I do not think that oil in small amounts is harmful if you are not overweight or suffering from a serious disease and if you are using the right oils, the right way.

Different kinds of oils

There are three kinds of oils: saturated, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated. Saturated oils are solid at room temperature, mono-unsaturated oils are fluid at room temperature, but solid in the refrigerator, poly-unsaturated oils are fluid at room temperature and in the refrigerator. That sounds easy enough, but all oils contain a mixture of saturated, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats. Below you will find a table with the saturated, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fatty acid contents of various oils, as well as their vitamin E content.

Next week, I will discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the most popular cooking oils. I will also discuss how to use and store oils.

Fatty acid composition of various oils

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This table is sorted by mono-unsaturated fatty acid content. To sort on another header, just click that header

Oil

saturated

mono-unsaturated

poly-unsaturated

vitamin e

Sunflower oil (oleic)

10

84

4

41

Hazelnut oil

7

78

10

47

Safflower oil (oleic)

6

75

14

34

Olive oil

14

73

11

14

Avocado oil

12

71

13

Almond oil

8

70

17

39

Apricot kernel oil

6

60

29

4

Mustard oil

12

59

21

Canola oil

7

59

30

17

Goose fat

28

57

11

3

Herring oil

21

57

16

Teaseed oil

21

52

23

0

Duck fat

33

49

13

3

Cod liver oil

23

47

23

Peanut oil

17

46

32

16

Lard

39

45

11

1

Chicken fat

30

45

21

3

Sheanut oil

47

44

5

0

Turkey fat

29

43

23

3

Beef tallow fat

50

42

4

3

Mutton Tallow

47

41

8

3

Sesame oil

14

40

42

1

Rice bran oil

20

39

35

32

Palm oil

49

37

9

16

Oat oil

20

35

41

14

Sardine oil

30

34

32

Cocoa butter

60

33

3

2

Salmon oil

20

29

40

Corn oil

13

28

55

14

Menhaden oil

30

27

34

Soybean oil

14

23

58

9

Tomatoseed oil

20

23

53

4

Walnut oil

9

23

63

0

Flaxseed oil

9

20

66

18

Poppyseed oil

14

20

62

11

Sunflower oil

10

20

66

41

Cottonseed oil

26

18

52

35

Grapeseed oil

10

16

70

29

Wheat germ oil

19

15

62

149

Safflower oil

6

14

75

34

Palm kernel oil

82

11

2

4

Babassu oil

81

11

2

19

Coconut oil

87

6

2

0

Nutmeg butter

90

5

0

0

At first I planned to only list the most popular oils, like olive, safflower and canola, but I was fascinated by all the different oils. I had never heard of Babassu oil and wondered how anybody had ever thought of making oil from tomato seeds, so I decided to let them in.